Sept. 21 (UPI) — Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has been named the head football coach at Jackson State University in Mississippi.
Sanders, 53, announced the new role Sunday on his podcast 21st & Prime. Jackson State President Thomas Hudson and athletic director Ashley Robinson appeared on the show and confirmed the hire.
“It’s a match made in heaven,” Sanders said on the podcast. “God called me to Jackson State and to these men.”
“We are just so very fortunate to be in this space and have a man like this joining us,” Hudson said.
“It’s very big for Jackson State University,” Robinson said.
The longtime Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys cornerback has never coached a college football team, but has coached at the high school level.
Jackson State is expected to make the announcement at a news conference Monday morning.
Jackson State competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, which announced in August that it will play a six-game conference schedule between February 27 and late April. The season was scheduled to begin September 12, but was delayed by five months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Grambling, Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Mississippi Valley State, Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, Prairie View A&M, Southern University and Texas Southern also compete in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Sanders isn’t the first hall of famer to set foot on the Jackson, Miss., campus. Legendary Chicago Bears tailback Walter Payton spent four years at Jackson State and rushed for more than 3,500 yards before he was drafted as the fourth overall pick by the Bears in 1975. The school has also produced three others who were ultimately inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Jackson State fired coach John Hendrick in August after he posted a 4-8 record in 2019 and ended the season with three consecutive losses. The Tigers haven’t had a winning season since 2013.
Sanders, who played collegiately at Florida State, will finish his tenure as offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian School in Cedar Hill, Texas, before he takes over at Jackson State.
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